Professional vs. Personal Goals

I have always wanted to be a doctor. The feeling is so deeply ingrained in my person that I honestly cannot think of any other thing I would do instead. I have worked my entire academic career to get into medical school and become the best physician I can be, no matter what. Already, it has taken countless hours of handwork, yet still, my career is in its infancy. There is an endless pursuit of knowledge I am after. My dedication to this dream will propel me toward the success I am searching for.

There comes a time, however, that one must exist selfishly. Instead of what “will make me a great doctor?” I must ask myself, “what will make me a happy person?” Now is an appropriate time to discuss the matter because I recently found myself in a place to make what could be one of the most unique decisions I will ever make.

My original summer plans: I would graduate on Sunday, May 8th, and leave for a cross-country road trip on May 11th. The trip would give me time to reflect on my time at Penn State and provide some time to reset before starting the next chapter of my life. I would return for my road trip on May 29th and start my internship on the 30th. The internship is a ten-week shadowing experience at my local hospital. Each week, you shadow a different specialty to see where your medical interests could be — an incredible professional opportunity. Then after the internship, I would move to Boston and start my MPH program in mid-August.

Naturally, life is never that easy, and I broke my collarbone to learn that I couldn’t drive for 6-8 weeks. I was left with a decision: do I cancel the road trip and still do my internship, or do I cancel the internship and simply delay the road trip? How was I supposed to choose between a great professional opportunity and an exciting chance to grow as a person?

After much thought, I decided not to do my internship and delay my road trip. My thought process for this came down to the idea that I have the rest of my life to do shadowing experiences in hospitals, but how many more summers did I have to drive across the country alone, sleeping in my car along the way? When I am sitting down with the medical school admissions staff, I will be able to talk about this trip and how much it has impacted me. The conversation will be much more unique, genuine, and memorable than the hundreds of other kids who only did medically-related experiences before school.

See, learning is only beneficial so much that you care about the subject. In order for me to care about learning for my career, I must first care about learning who I am.

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The Grades